An Illness Without A Name: Part 1

Every woman has a menstrual cycle and every woman’s cycle is different. Some women experience mild to no symptoms and some women have cramps. Some women even have really painful cramps, with pain that makes you wish you were not born. This is my story.

My first period

When I was 12, my folks moved from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a time when I was just becoming a young lady. Moving was life changing as I left my friends and extended family to start a new life with family I hardly knew.

One afternoon my mom wanted to talk to me about my menstrual cycle. I remember my mom carrying a pink box called “Kotex Very Personally Yours,” a sanitary napkin introductory kit in the late 1960s. It had different size pads, sanitary belts to keep the pad in place, a booklet on your cycle and pamphlets for your records. It was a very pretty box and I was excited for my period to start. I couldn’t wait for the next chapter of my life to begin.  This was the course that needed to happen when growing into womanhood -- this was supposed to be a wonderful time of my life.

I was out one evening with friends, riding a boy's bike with a cross bar. I was going down a steep hill and had to stop suddenly, and fell onto the bar. The next day I saw my first showing of my menstrual cycle. "No biggie,” I thought. Everything was great, I could handle this. My first year was uneventful.

Something wasn't right

As my cycle continued to come month after month, I noticed I was getting cramps. They were not so bad at first. I would take Midol and everything would be alright. The pain kept increasing each month and by my sophomore year my cycle was the enemy and I hated it. So began my first visit to the gynecologist. He assured my mom and I that mild cramps were normal and that there was nothing to worry about.

My cycle would appear and I knew I had a small window to get home before my life was on hold for 3-4 days. I had no communication with the outside world, my friends would call and I could not talk. I was tethered to my bed with a bucket beside me. My cycle was controlling my life. This condition was so debilitating that at times I could not speak.

We began regular visits to the gynecologist regarding my cycle and cramps. He grew increasingly concerned and set me up to have a D&C (dilation and curettage), this is a procedure in which the cervix (lower, narrow part of the uterus) is dilated so that the uterine lining can be scraped with a curette (spoon-shaped instrument) to remove abnormal tissues.  Endometriosis was shaping my adolescent life.

Continued in Part 2.